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William Golding - Lord of the Flies

I enjoy writing and I would like to do it so to please the reader. I read Golding’s Lord of the Flies recently and I bumped on the idea to recall this book briefly for you. The book enthralled me in every aspect (especially after ploughing through half of Grisham’s Time to Kill). The abundance of beautiful British words, literary served articulation, enchanting descriptions and engulfing double-bottom plot make it true masterpiece. Please mind that English is not my native language and be critical constructively. Unfortunately I can not make it look more aesthetically with tools provided here. Thank you for reading.

William Golding – Lord of the Flies
Chapter One

Much of the first chapter is devoted to description of Ralph and Piggy. Those two contemporary castaways are first to find one another among whole bunch of children shipwrecked on the uninhabited island somewhere in the unknown. The landscape is tropical, engulfed with steamy heat and moist. Piggy confides Ralph that he is ashamed of his nickname and pleases him not to divulge it further. Ralph and Piggy are explicitly contradictory personas. Ralph seems to feel ebullient about the adventurous circumstances and behaves quite offhandedly, whereas Piggy rather intently sticks in his dismay closely to Ralph who quickly turns out to be of a strong dominant character. They also differ physically – Ralph has waist of a boxer and Piggy – he always was getting as many sweets as he wanted, hence the sobriquet. Boys spot a blurred silhouette of a stupendous shell in the water near the pink rock terrace where they talk. They manage to get it out jointly and make it out to be a conch. Also together they realize that they could use it to summon loitering children. Piggy instructs Ralph how to blow the conch as himself is asthmatic. After few tries it emits a trembling, strident sound throughout the island. Boys slowly gather one by one on the pink stone landing at the beach at the feet of great scar, where Ralph and Piggy have called for them from. Age of children varies from about 5-6 to 12-13 years old. One of the youngest, a furtive child is put out by his peers and timidly speaks up in the name of them that they are afraid of beastie seen before. Elders laugh shrill while Ralph eventually gets irritated crying repeatedly: “But there isn't a beastie!”. Most of them come up casually and perch on the saplings plonked around the landing. Presently a peculiar team of choir boys approach the shady terrace. They distinguish from others, for they are all worn up despite of burning heat and march under stern leadership of Jack Merridew – the choir chapter father. One of them – a boy of a remarkably pallid complexion called Simon – faints, what raises a commotion but for Jack who relentlessly holds the choir arrayed. Only after common plea he allows the choir to take their heavy togs off and stagger less rigidly. All boys introduce and Piggy frowns to remember the names. Meeting decides to set up an order. The conch becomes the icon of leadership, the scepter which possession gives the right to speak. Ralph reveals Piggy’s sobriquet to the audience so he experiences public mortification. He suffuses and wilts indignant. Boys vote Ralph for the chief. Ralph decides to go up the scar to explore whether they really shipwrecked on an island. He chooses Jack and Simon who has now been recovered to accompany him, discarding Piggy again. When Ralph, Jack and Simon trot away, Piggy follows them gawky and bumbles to Ralph to stop. Two others disregard Piggy and keep walking uninterruptedly when Ralph turns round to refrain him from coming along. Piggy complains about Ralph's treacherous behaviour. Ralph deflects it crafty by saying that "Piggy is better than Fatty" and leaves Piggy alone.

Ralph, Jack Merridew and Simon become friends as they travel up the island. They plough through the ferny undergrowth and coarse foliage and scramble up the scar covered with tangled creepers. At the top they discover a big circular upheaval filled with beautiful bluish flowers spilling out in festoons on the canopy beneath. They find out they are on an uninhabited island and they delightfully claim it “All ours”. On their way back they hear fierce squeak. Boys trace it as it rises to frenzy. They find a piglet tangled in creepers. It kicks its hoofs in extreme dread. Jack pulls out his shining knife off the sheath and swings his arm aloft in savage oblivion. The air hangs up in a hiatus and boys realize the animality of an attempted downstroke. The piglet jerks immuring tangle and finally tears loose and scoots into the woods. Boys, shocked for the moment, now begin to laugh ashamedly. Jack explains he was picking the spot to jab and gives an oath not to hesitate next time.

Re: William Golding - Lord of the Flies

Thank you very much for your answer. I do not work with a thesaurus, I just try to use words which I have recently learned to remember them. I never understood how to use articles, I will now pick up on them. The collocation is a great deal for me, but it turns out again to be reserved only for native or very experienced speakers :/. Anyway if you probably could point those which do not match, I would understand it better. To read what you recommend is the first thing I will do :).

Re: William Golding - Lord of the Flies

Or maybe I should try to put my question in the other, more general way: Is there any way (a rule or smthg) to recognise which words are "basic" and which are "difficult" as you say? To recognise the lexical tinge of a word? And is there any way to infer the right co-occurence of lexical items, the collocation of them? Or all that shall one just learn by heart?